Method of sealing cans.



W. CAMERON. METHOD OF SEALING CANS. APPLICATION FILED AUG.26. 1914.

Patented July 25, 19160 wwm 2 SHEETS-SHEET I w. CAMERON.

METHOD 0F.SEALING CANS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.26,,I9I4. 1 1 92,65, Patented July 25, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- In the drawings:

transverse sectional view v'WILILIAIM CAMEROZN' OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIG-NOB. TO 'IOBBIS WOLD 8v COMP, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF- ILLINOIS.

METHOD OF SEALING. CAllTS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1216.

Application filed August 26, 1914. Serial No. 858,585.

citizen of the United States,'and resident of- Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented. certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Sealing Cans, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention has to do with the art of can making and sealing and is part'cu larly concerned with the ca ping of can in order to provide a proper sanitary joint for the same. v

In the general practice of the art it has been customary to apply the sealing compound to the marginal portions of the cap within the groove formed by the upset flange which cooperates with the flange of the can body in the seaming operation. This application, however, of the sealing compound has proven objectionable in that during'the uniting of the cap to the body it has been possible for the sealing compound to pass into the interior of the body from the cap groove and into contact with the contents thereof, with a resultant deleterious eifect upon such contents.

It is therefore the object ofthe present invention to provide a novel method for sealing cans through the medium of which a thoroughly sanitary joint is obtained between the can body and its cap and by means of which entrance of the sealing compound into the can body is wholly avoided.

Other ob ects and advantages of the invention will be seen as the nature of the,

improvements is better understood, the invention consisting in the novel method hereafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and finally pointed out in the claims.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a preferred form of apparatus for carrying the present invention into eifect. Fig. 2 is a top plan view thereof. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the same. Fig. 4; is a on the line 4.4, Fig. 1. Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are fragmentary sectional views of a can body and its cap illustrating different stages of seaming in accordance with the present invention.

Referring now in detail to the accompanying drawings, and more particularly with reference to Figs. 1 to 4-. inclusive, the numeral 10 designates atrough or vat of elongated form designed to receive a suitable seahng medium for providing a hermetic joint between the cap and body of a can or simllar container. Arranged within the trough or vat 10 is a longitudinally disposed feed roll 1 1, one end of which is provided with a pinion 12 which meshes with a corresponding pinion 13 carried by a stub shaft 14-. arranged adjacent to the projecting end of the feed roll 11. Also carried by the stub shaft 14: is a bevel gear 15 in mesh with a corresponding gear 16, which latter gear 1s mounted upon a transversely arranged shaft .17 operated through the medium of a sprocket pinion 18 with which is associated a chain 19. The chain 19 is connected to any suitable source of power.

Rismg vertically from one side of the trough or vat 11 is a pair of standards 20, each of which carries a supporting arm 21 ad ustably connected to the standard with whlch 1t is associated, and each of said arms 21 also supports a shaft 22 upon which is mounted a pulley 23. The pulleys 23 are in alinement with each other in the direction side of the trough or vat is a longitudinally extending guide rail 26, said guide rails bemg spaced apart from each other a suitable distance to accommodate the length of the cans under treatment. This width may be varied at will and to the accomplishment of this end the supporting brackets 25 at one side of the trough or vat 10 are adjustably mounted, as by bolt and slot connections 27 and through the medium of this construction the distance between the rails 26 may be adjusted to suit different lengths of cans.

It is the purpose of the endless belt 24 to convey the cans lengthwise of the guide rails 26, and in this movement to also impart to the cans rotation. To this end the lower run or stretch of the conveyor 24-. is caused to rest upon the upper portions of the can bodies, as clearly illustrated in Figs. 1, 3 and 4, while the lower portions ,of said bodies will travel upon a convex guide 28, which guide is mounted upon an adjustable scraper-blade 29, one edge of which is arupon such relation.

of the sealing operation,

ranged adjacent to the peripheryof the feed roll; 11. The scraper-blade 29 may be ad justed toward or away from the feed-roll 11 through the medium of bolt and slot connections 30, and the purpose of this adjustment is to regulate the a'mount'of sealing medium fed by the feed roll 11 to the flanges of .the can bodies.

For imparting movement to the endless conveyer 24 the shaft 22,- which is adjacent corporated as a part of a can-making machine but its operation is not dependent As before stated, it is the object of the present invention to enable-the sealing of can caps upon can bodies with such a type of .joint that the sealing compound or the medium employed will be precluded from entering the contents of the can at the time thereby providing a strictly samtary joint between the cap and the'body. In the use, therefore, of the present apparatus the canv bodies are succes sively fed by a suitable chute or other means between the guide rails 26. The can bodies thus will lie between the lower stretch of the conveyer 24 and the convex guide 28 and-the flanges at one end of the res ective can as clearly illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4. The feed roll 11 operating in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 4 will take up the compound or sealing medium containedwithin the trough or vat 10 and the scraper 29 having been properly adjustedwith respect to the feed roll 11 the sealing compound or medium will pass beyond the inner edge of such scraper 29 in the form of a thin film or sheet. As the flange at one end of each of the can bodies rests upon the feed rollll during the traverse of the can bodies be tween the guide rails 26, it will be obvious that such flange will intercept the movement of the film of the sealing medium in a line which is substantially at right angles to the direction of movement of the film, and as the can bodies continue their rotation it will also be seen that the sealing medium is de+ posited upon the can body flange through- 'out the entire length of the latter. As will also be] understood, this depositing of the sealing compound is upon. the outer face or exterior wal of the can body flange and after the respective can bodies have passed throughout the length of the feed roll 11 the flanges thereof which have been in contact with said roll will be entirely covered with the usual ty ing medium on the exterior face the sealin medium at their outer faces. After the bodies are filled with the desired contents, and while the is still in a plastic state, to the bodies,

sealing compound the caps are applied whereupon the caps are seamed, and thus a hermetic joint is obtained between the caps and the bodies. In

Figs. 5, 6, and 7 are disclosed various stages of the assembling and seamin of the caps, Fig. 5 illustrating the positlon when the cap is first a plied to the body. By referring to this gure it will be noted that the sealing compound '34 is deposited entirely upon that face only ofthe flange of the body .which is a continuation of the outerface of the wall of the can body, and is next adjacent to the depending flange of the cap. In Fig. ,6 the cap flange has been pressed against the body flange so that the sealing compound is interposed directly between these 'two flanges, and-in Fig. 7 the-final stage of the seammg operation is shown;

ing medium is wholly outside .of the joint between the wall of thecan and the inner wall ofthe groove. of the cap sothat entrance of the sealing compound into the in I plrocess therefore is not to be restricted to t bodies will also rest upon the eed roll 11, v

In this view it is also evident that the seal- For seaming the cap and the can body e of seaming apparatus may be employed, unnecessary to illustrate such apparatus.

1 Having thus described the invention,

secured by Letters Patent is: V

1. The method of sealing cans, which consists in applying a sealing mediumv to that face only of the can body flange which is a continuation ofthe outer face of the wall of the can body, whereby to position the sealing medium on the exterior face only of said flange, assembling a cap on the can body with its flange overlapplng the body flange, and then effecting seaming of the cap and body flanges, with the sealing medium confined wholly between the marginal portions ofv the cap flange and said exterior face of the body flange and remote from the interior of the sealed can.

2. The method of sealing cans, which conface only of the can body flange which is a continuation of the outer face of the wall of the can body, whereby to position the sealflange, assembling a, cap on the can body w1th 1ts flange overlapping the body flange,

y reason of which it is deemed ,what is claimed as new and desired to be only of said pressing the flange of the cap into engagebetween the Wall of the body and theinnei" ment 'With said face of the body flange to Wall of the groove of the cap.

which the sealing medium has been applied, WILLIAM CAMERON, and. finally seammg the cap and body flanges Witnesses: 5 with the sealing medium confined by the Amen DOWNEY,

seem at a, point Wholly outside of the joint ESTHER RGRET @msnN. 

